The body holds the key to healing
At Ellestedet, we have a physiotherapist on staff because the body is central and important for healing the trauma that the woman carries with her.
The physiotherapist at Ellestedet is of course primarily based on the body, but she also works with other aspects of the human being based on the holistic understanding that the body, thoughts, emotions, experiences and spiritual resources interact.
The woman's relationship with her own body is often painful and distant when she has been subjected to violence. Her body is overloaded after a long period of stress. It is tense. She sleeps poorly. Overthinks a lot. Poor digestion. Breathing shallowly. Has pain and perhaps anxiety. In short, the body is in a locked fight/flight state because the sympathetic nervous system is activated and probably has been for a long time before she arrived at the shelter. Being on constant alert takes a toll on the body. Therefore, it often carries a lot of mental and physical symptoms.
Here, our physiotherapist meets the individual woman in a space where there is room to listen and be in what is. The woman is met with a belief that she and her body have the resources to heal themselves with a little help. She works with the woman to gently address the pain and tension that the body manifests. Through body exercises, light massage, touch, relaxation with sound, breathing exercises, mindfulness and conversation, she supports the woman to relax and regulate her nervous system so that she can slowly feel her own body again.
The woman learns to take better care of her body instead of neglecting it. As her nervous system becomes calm and balanced, she gains body awareness and the body's natural and self-healing systems are activated.
All of which increases vitality, the ability to set boundaries and a sense of mastery over life.